Tips for Tryouts

Ben, almost any educated coach can teach the skills necessary to play basketball. No person can teach drive and hustle, it is something inside. Although we use hustle drills, it is not the same as a personal attribute or quality.

Either you have a good work ethic or you don't. I have had both types play for me, the very talented player who is lazy, and the player with more heart and drive with good athletisism but low basketball skills.

In I had the choice, I would take the hard driving athlete and teach him the skills over the talented lazy one anyday.

I wish you were my coach! lol. I am the player with more heart and drive but lower basketball skills, but yet, the Bball coaches in my school are always preffering the very talented lazy kids over me.

mikko-

Now all you have to do is to improve your skills... keep working on your game.. and then things will go your way. I know that Ben is constantly working at his game... and it seems like you are too... thats the important thing. He has told me about his games and the things he has done.... and how hard he works on D.

IF you are not sure about the things you need to improve on, ask your coach, I bet he would be more than happy to let you know where you have to improve. Tell us a little bit about your game and how you have played once you get in.

Good luck.

Ask your coach for an honest evaluation. Dont take his/her comments persoanlly, it may contain more than you expected. The point is this, somethimes you can have all the heart in the world but very little athleticism, that is hard to overcome. With lots of good coaching and hard work you can be a good player. If you are a true athelete with low basketball skills and the drive of a Ferrari, you should be the coaches dream. Watch what the better players are doing, what they do well and were they too can improve and try not to make the same mistakes. Watch some of the better NCAA and NBA players that play your position and again MOST IMPORTANTLY PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. Look up guys like Larry Bird - Steve Nash and see their biography to see how many shots per day and hours they worked to get better. Lastly, Michael Jordan has the heart of a lion and he didnt even make every team he tried out for.

In 6 days I have the championship game for my NJB team. We won the last game 45 to 43 but I didnt play to well I had one steal and a good pass on a pick n roll. I think I was a little to jumpy and nervous. Do you have any tips to take away jumpiness? Secondly, when Steve Nash is reading the pick n roll what is he looking for?

My recommendation is: Use what you use every game. In every sport I played I would see kids laughing, others singing, whistling, tapping feet, listening to the OLD WALKMANS. I sat alone till prep time.

Keep things the same not out of superstition but repitition almost necessity. With a game like basketball, repitition is key. It also settles the mind, dont focus on what err'd on last time guy beat me-scored more points). But focus on the basics, fake my passes, set and use picks precisely WATCH the play develop and how the defence reacts to those changes. The best guards do only one thing exactly the same: THEY WATCH the play develop and take advantage of defensive errors. An overplay to one side or other, mismatches, slow footed defender.......

So, focus on basics expecially in warm up - and PAY ATTENTION & LEARN from what you see on the court. GOOD LUCK TO YOU

Ben: Ive been away on an extended road trip and hav'nt had much time to contribute to this forum. You ask about Steve Nash. I knew Steve when he was 15 when I coached the Ontario Provincial Team in the Canadian Champships. Steve was still on the Under 16 team at the time and practicing with the under 19 team. I had several opportunities to sit down and talk with him about his work ethic and it was relentless. Steve never let adversity bother him, he was always up beat and if he made a mistake, he just filed it away for future reference and practice. One thing that was always part of Steve's attire, was a basketball. I never saw him without it. When we were talking he was dribbling, when he was walking he was dribbling and that ball had no pebble left on it it was as slick as Coach Sars head. Hes a great player to emulate and will go down with the great guards of this day. The last thing, Steve got taller but not till he got older, he was not only a great basketball player, but very skilled at both soccer and ice hockey.

You speak of how he handles ball screens. Coach Joe Haefner has an article on here on how Steve creates space by dribbling back to create more space in an effort to get a bigger man guarding him. that being said, he then is quick enough to blow by the bigger man or has now the opportunity to change directions making the pick n roll much more effective. All the kids on here inquiring and asking questions is exciting I'm sure you are all wonderful kids..Coach Mac

Be nice now Mac.... I still have a good head of hair... good genes I guess.... and I wasn't taking my hands - dragging them thru my head and saying... " what the heck are they doing out there. " I would stuff a towel in my face and do that.
Great advice to Ben by the way. Age has a great way of equalizing things - be patient - your time will come soon enough.

Tonight I got to try out for the sam aau team because they needed more players idk why? I did way better than the first tryouts. I do have one question though. When I jump stop in the lane and I try to bounce pass to a big man it always gets tippe how can create more space in between the defenders to get my pass off?


Steve Nash :)

I hope that works out for you Ben. ( You probably did better because you are more relaxed now ) ??

When you jump stop in the lane the post players have to make themselves available to the ball... they need to help create that lane for the pass... IF you are getting in to deep that will cut down those lanes. Too many players just stand there and say, but I was open, well your not open if there is no passing lane. Tell your bigs to get in to a passing lane so you can deliver the ball to them. (It might mean just moving a step or so in one direction) You might try a pass fake or shot fake before trying to dump it off.

If you get in too deep you should probably be shooting the ball.
Don't forget, IF you execute the jump stop correctly you still have a pivot foot available to you - you see a lot of players that will come to a jump stop in the lane - then take the step and a half up for a shot. ( I hope I explained that right )

Good luck.

Today I got a phone call from the guy that runs the same aau team I tried out for the last night and I got that second chance and made the team.

Congratulations Ben! I'm sure that made you happy.

Now go out and have some fun, I know you work hard at your game... so keep up the good work.

Let us know how its going for you. How are things with the other teams?

I have the championship game for NJB tomorrow and Ill tell you how it goes.

Good luck Ben, have fun and play well.

I was wondering what made the difference this time with that AAU coach? I know you don't care because you just want to be on the team... but I am curious.

I was definitely making more shots. He said I was persistent and he liked that. Plus they had 2 spots and there were four guys there.

Funny how knocking down a few shots will open someones eyes. You can be doing a lot of other things right...... and all of a sudden you hit a few and they say, " hey, look at that kid, he can really play. " Keep up the good work and good luck in today's game.

Well done, glad you've got what you wanted. Leave it all on the court.

Coaches, would you agree or disagree that just making or missing a few shots should not have been a decieding factor? If a player works hard, has good skills, good shot mechanics that should be highly considered in making the cut or not - not just whether dropping the shots in.

There are many factors why the shots didnt drop, Nerves - we can overcome that; Confidence - we can work on that too. Teaching proper shot mechanics takes a bit longer and would then be a strong negative in chosing a player. Your thoughts?

Id,

Whether we agree with that premise or not its just the way it is with some coaches.....IF we see some kid knocking down threes from the ozone we are going to notice him... and we are going to say, there's a zone buster. I know I would, everyone needs shooters. I also look for the kids that can play good defense, will dive on the floor or take a charge... kids that can handle the ball well... find the open man.

There are some kids that are great practice players... but when they get into games... forget it. I've had them too. When my assistant and I were at tryouts - we looked for all those things - we also looked for kids that were coachable and hard workers - kids we wanted on the squad. It all depends on numbers too.... how many can you keep and have a good practice?

Do we make mistakes? Of course, everyone does... but believe me, the kid that is a great shooter will open anybodies eyes and I LOVED a hard nosed kid on defense.

I agree, that there is more to it than just dropping shots things like defence, intensity, coachability and also as you mentioned is he a practice player or game player. All should be evaluated. You may have a returning roster of starters need to back fill 6-7-8 man spot and are looking for a specific style of player.

But sticking to shooting to say a kid shouldnt be looked at because he misses his shot (but has good mechanics, just had an off day) I think is wrong and I think that is what started this.

OK, let me clarify my last post....

I am saying that IF a kid is out there knocking down shots from all over the court... he IS going to get my attention and probably most other coaches..... NOW ..... IF a kid is doing all the other things we like to see out of a player - and his form is spot on and is missing that day.... thats a different story. Most tryouts last a few days... so he does have a chance to redeem himself.

What did one coach say.... his first two players are this..... 1- a great rebounder 2- a shut down defender..... after that you fill in the rest of the blanks... I want a great point guard and 2 great shooters.